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Juvenile Fibromyalgia: Different from the Adult Chronic Pain Syndrome?

  • Chronic Pain (R Staud, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

While a majority of research has focused on adult fibromyalgia (FM), recent evidence has provided insights into the presence and impact of FM in children and adolescents. Commonly referred as juvenile fibromyalgia (JFM), youths, particularly adolescent girls, present with persistent widespread pain and cardinal symptoms observed in adult FM. A majority of youth with JFM continue to experience symptoms into adulthood, which highlights the importance of early recognition and intervention. Some differences are observed between adult and juvenile-onset FM syndrome with regard to comorbidities (e.g., joint hypermobility is common in JFM). Psychological comorbidities are common but less severe in JFM. Compared to adult FM, approved pharmacological treatments for JFM are lacking, but non-pharmacologic approaches (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy and exercise) show promise. A number of conceptual issues still remain including (1) directly comparing similarities and differences in symptoms and (2) identifying shared and unique mechanisms underlying FM in adults and youths.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, MLC 7039, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 45229-3026, USA

    Susmita Kashikar-Zuck

  2. Department of Pediatric Anesthesia, MLC 7031, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 45229-3026, USA

    Christopher King

  3. Division of Pediatric Rheumatology, MLC 4010, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 45229-3026, USA

    Tracy V. Ting

  4. Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 260 Stetson Street, Suite 3200, Cincinnati, OH, 45219, USA

    Lesley M. Arnold

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  1. Susmita Kashikar-Zuck
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  2. Christopher King
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Correspondence to Susmita Kashikar-Zuck.

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Conflict of Interest

Susmita Kashikar-Zuck reports grants from the National Institutes of Health K24 mid-career grant, during the conduct of the study; Christopher King reports grants from NIH/NIDCR, during the conduct of the study; Tracy V. Ting declares that she has no conflicts of interest. Lesley M. Arnold reports grants and personal fees from Pfizer Inc., Forest, Daiichi Sankyo, and Theravance; personal fees from Purdue, Toray, Shire, Innovative Med Concepts, Ironwood, and Zynerba; and grants from Eli Lilly, Tonix, Cefaly, and Cerephex, outside the submitted work.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

With regard to the authors’ research cited in this paper, all procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Funding

This work was partially supported by funding from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health Grant K24AR056687 to S. Kashikar-Zuck and funding by the NIH/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research R00 Grant (King, PI) to C. King.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Chronic Pain

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Kashikar-Zuck, S., King, C., Ting, T.V. et al. Juvenile Fibromyalgia: Different from the Adult Chronic Pain Syndrome?. Curr Rheumatol Rep 18, 19 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11926-016-0569-9

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